UK gets new multiplayer outsourcing studio

The Multiplayer Guys, based in Nottingham, will help with online implementation

A group of ten experienced games industry professionals have come together to form the Multiplayer Guys, a Nottingham-based outsourcing studio focused on helping teams implement their multiplayer aspirations into games.

Led by Rik Alexander and Steve Bennett, the team’s experience runs far and wide with the likes of recent titles like Terratech on its collective CV, all the way back to one of the first Xbox Live-enabled games, 2002’s MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology.

The Multiplayer Guys skills centre around server/client architecture, P2P, a/synchronous, and live operations on console, PC and mobile. So pretty much everything you would expect from a team focused on multiplayer, then.

Alexander said, in a press release from the team: “We firmly believe that multiplayer games are the best way to provide years of entertainment to the players as they fundamentally hook into an instinctive desire for social belonging and interpersonal exchange. However, designing, implementing and operating these experiences is complex.

“Each member of our team has been building multiplayer games for an average of 15 years now, we’ve made the mistakes, know many of the pitfalls and security issues and can help other studios build tailored solutions for their games.”

Bennett added: “Many developers will create their own multiplayer teams but this can often become an unnecessary diversion from creating the core game. With ‘The Multiplayer Guys’ we want to offer a pragmatic outsource option which is predictable and experienced. Our team is flexible and has been proven time and time again.”